Learned Lessons
by dawn341
Summary: Second season story. Duncan shares one of the lessons he's learned with Richie.


Learned Lessons by Dawn Cunningham

Disclaimers:

Duncan, Richie, and all other characters mentioned belong to Rysher. I'm just borrowing them and not getting paid for it.

Do not post or publish this story anywhere else, without my express permission. Feel free to share it with others as long as the disclaimers remain intact.

! !

This story contains spoilers for Highlander: Endgame. Don't read it if you don't want to be spoiled! However, you don't need to have seen the movie to understand the story either. What can I say? I saw the movie and felt compelled to try to fix one of the canon errors. This is only a spoiler for one subplot of the movie.

This story takes place after the second season episode Prodigal Son. References are also made to events that took place in the second season episode The Darkness and the movie Endgame.

I wrote this many years ago.

Learned Lesson by Dawn Cunningham

"More wine?" Duncan MacLeod asked, holding out the bottle of Bordeaux he had opened to accompany their dinner.

"Sure, Mac," Richie Ryan said, lifting his glass up so it could be filled. "That was a great meal." He leaned back on the couch with a small groan, taking care not to spill his wine. "I'm stuffed."

"Well, you ate enough," Duncan replied with a grin as he topped off his own wine glass. He joined the younger Immortal on the couch.

"Hey, I was making up for all that rotten food I got while I was in prison!"

Duncan bit back a sigh. It had been a close call. Richie could have ended up in prison for a very long time. Fortunately, he'd been able to prove that Martin Hyde had been the person behind all the killings instead of Richie. Tonight's dinner had been a small celebration. Sure, they'd shared the bottle of cognac the night before, but he had wanted to do something more.

They had a lot to be thankful for-Richie was out of jail, Martin Hyde had lost his head, and teacher and student had reconciled. The last item was probably the most important reason of all. He'd regretted the way he'd sent Richie away all those months ago after the young Immortal had killed Mako. He could have handled it so much better.

Sometimes, it seemed like that was the story of his life. Regrets. Wishing that he'd handled things differently. He knew that hindsight was always better than foresight, but that didn't stop him from wanting to change things that had happened.

"Hey, Mac..." Richie's voice interrupted his thoughts.

Duncan turned to look at his friend, waiting for the young man to continue. From the tone of Richie's voice, it sounded like it was something important.

Richie continued to stare into the fireplace. "You know... the last few months... I've had some time to think about things... Immortal things."

Duncan prepared himself for the worst. He could vaguely remember hounding Connor with questions when he'd been a fledgling Immortal, too. The answers had never been satisfactory. Richie hadn't been anywhere near as bad. Maybe it was because he'd known about Immortals before he'd become one.

Richie glanced over at his former teacher before turning his eyes back to the flames. "That night I died... You told me you'd always known what I would become. Right?"

"Yes, that's right. I sensed it from the start."

"Would you have ever told me?" Richie blurted out. "I mean if I hadn't died that night-would you have ever told me what I could become?"

The Scot took a sip of his wine, stalling for time. How much should he tell Richie? "No." Maybe that would satisfy his friend, but somehow he doubted it.

"You would have let me grow old and die?" Pain seemed to echo through Richie's voice. "Without ever giving me a chance to live forever?"

So much for simple. "Richie, I learned that lesson a long time ago. There was a woman-Kate. She was young, beautiful, vivacious, and I fell in love with her. I knew what she could be-if she died a violent death. It seemed like the perfect solution. I would end her mortal life and we would be together forever."

Richie was staring at him now. "So, you killed her? What happened to her? Did someone take her head?"

"Yes, I killed her. I did it on our wedding night. It seemed to make so much sense at the time. She was asleep when I plunged a dagger in her chest." Duncan paused and swallowed hard as he remembered that time. "She screamed in pain and opened her eyes. I can still remember her eyes-even after all these years. How they accused me. Like she couldn't believe what I had done."

"What happened? Didn't she understand why you'd done it?"

"I never got a chance to explain. I was almost in shock. I can remember sitting on the floor waiting for her to recover. I had her blood all over my hands. When she finally woke up, I tried to explain, but she was hysterical. She ran out into the rain, screaming at me to stay away. I didn't know what to do."

Duncan stood up and walked over to a nearby porthole. He stared out into the darkness. He could still see her face, her eyes. Hear her screams and hysterical cries. They seemed to echo through the silence of the barge. "When I finally went after her, she wouldn't listen. She told me she hated me."

"Is she still alive?"

Duncan shrugged. "As far as I know she is. I've tried to see her several times over the years, but she would never listen. I wanted to explain that I'd done it for her-for us. So we could have forever together. She still hates me. I can only hope that someday she may find a way to forgive me." He turned around to face Richie again. "Ever since that day, I've never deliberately taken a pre-Immortal's life. I had no right to force immortality onto her. Just as I would have had no right to force it onto you."

"But shouldn't you have given me that chance? You wouldn't have been forcing anything on me. You could have let *me* make that decision."

Duncan couldn't miss the hurt in Richie's eyes. "And what kind of decision could you have made at the ripe age of nineteen? You hadn't even barely started living your mortal life yet. You would have had no concept of what being an Immortal meant. Besides, you needed to finish growing up."

"That's not what I meant, Mac," Richie protested. "If I *hadn't* died that night-would you have told me when I was old enough? When I was thirty? Wasn't that how old you were when you died the first time?"

The Scot sighed again. "Yes, I was thirty when I died the first time. As for telling you when you were older-I don't know, Richie. Maybe I would have. Maybe I would have given you that option if I'd thought you were capable of making that kind of decision. Either way, it's a moot point now. Nothing is going to change the fact that you're an Immortal, now. Why let what can't be eat away at you?"

"I guess you're right, Mac. It's just something I started thinking about when I was out on the road."

Duncan moved back over to the couch and sat down. For the longest time, they both just stared at the leaping flames in the fireplace.

It was Richie who broke the silence again. "You told me that you'd never married before. Why did you lie to me?"

Duncan stared at him, perplexed. "When did I tell you that?"

"After Tessa had been kidnapped. I met you in a park and brought you some information you wanted. I asked you if you'd ever been married before," Richie insisted. "And you said no. I thought it was so wonderful that Tessa would have been the first."

"I was a little bit stressed out, Richie. Tessa was missing. Besides, my marriage to Kate lasted less than twelve hours. It hardly counted."

"It would have counted to Tessa." Richie's devotion to Tessa was still evident, even though she'd been dead for months.

"No, I don't think it would. She understood that I'd had women before her. We'd talked about it. You'll have to face that someday, too. When you'll have to decide just how much you tell your current lover about your previous ones. And the answer will be different for each woman. Some will understand. Others will be jealous of past loves. It's another one of those difficulties of being an Immortal."

"Great. Just what I need. More difficulties." Richie tossed a grin at the Scot anyway. "Any other words of wisdom?"

"Nope." Duncan figured they'd already covered enough for that night. There would be other days. Other nights. Other questions... but he would worry about that later. Richie still had many lessons he would have to learn.

Hopefully, they wouldn't be quite so painful for his young friend.

The end.


End file.
